


Always Been You

by Takada_Saiko



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Character Death Fix, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Pepperony - Freeform, Whump, give Tony Stark a happy ending damn it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-04 21:17:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18820900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takada_Saiko/pseuds/Takada_Saiko
Summary: When Thanos follows the team through time, he inadvertently splinters off countless alternate timelines.





	1. Chapter 1

**Part One**

It had all happened so fast. From the moment that Thanos had attacked the compound it had been one chaotic moment tripping over another that led them stumbling into the newest fight of their life. Tony had known that they could be opening themselves up for something like this. If he had known exactly what _this_ was going to be when he had taken the leap, he couldn't be sure he would have gone with it. He had faced Thanos and lost. Horribly. While the others had killed him it hadn't been in a place like this. They had told him the story: a quiet place with an injured Titan. Their actions had managed to bring him back. If the kid hadn't come back too, Tony was sure he would have regretted it.

Peter Parker had come bounding through one of Strange's portals to join the fight already in full swing. He swung around with the gauntlet, playing a dangerous game of keepaway. They needed to end this before he got himself killed. Again.

Tony thought he'd been close, though as he lay mostly buried beneath the rubble that he had gone crashing through it was tough to pull those fractured memories together long enough to be sure. The stones… he'd been going for the stones. He was pretty sure that he'd gotten them too, and he'd been ready to unleash on Thanos what he'd done to them all five years before: death. Destruction. The end. It had to be what Strange had meant. He remembered thinking that right before he'd been slammed so hard that the glove had been ripped from his hand. He had rolled and barely scrambled to his feet when Thanos had hauled him up and thrown him clear across and into the debris of the destroyed compound.

Right. That's what had happened. Well it wasn't the first concussion he had gotten fighting someone trying to kill them all.

Tony groaned, instantly regretting it the moment he tried to shift his weight. Pain broke through and he had trouble pulling a breath in. He squeezed his eyes shut, bare fingers scraping at the rubble beneath them. If Friday was still functioning at all she would shoot him up with enough painkillers to at least get him focused on getting out of the immediate danger. He had lost his helmet somewhere along the way, so if she was still connected he couldn't hear her. As he lay there, desperately trying to string together coherent thoughts through the pain, he had a rare flash of nostalgia. He missed JARVIS. If this was going to be the end, he wouldn't have minded that old, familiar voice in his ear. At least then he wouldn't die alone.

Light flooded in and Tony squinted hard. The battle had left the entire stretch of land drenched in haze and dust, but in that moment it was like he was staring into the sun. Finally his dark eyes focused enough to see a woman hovering above him, the light emanating from her, and she tossed aside a massive piece of the rubble. "He's here!"

Danvers. That's right. She'd come crashing into the battle at some point.

"You need to be saved a lot, don't you?" she asked as her feet touched the ground next to him, the glow fading enough for him to spot the signs of damage on her right arm. It looked like burns, but not nearly as extensive as Bruce had suffered. Surely she hadn't….

"Thanos?" Tony managed, his voice weaker than he would have preferred and he heard the sound of someone making their way down towards them. He tensed, but Danvers knelt next to him.

"Dead," she assured him.

A soft sound escaped him. "Better stay that way this time."

"There's no coming back from that." She was exploring something, and Tony tried to crane his head to get a better look at what she was looking at.

"How bad?" came another voice and Wanda Maximoff skidded down the debris in a cloud of red.

"Straight through."

Tony's lips twitched down. "What is?"

"A steel pipe," Wanda answered softly, her gaze sweeping over him. "How's your suit? Can you -?"

"Yeah," Tony managed, teeth clenched. Somehow knowing the source of the pain made it worse. "Just get me off the damn thing."

The two women shared a look before Danvers nodded. Wanda took a step back and Tony shut his eyes and waited, feeling the tentacles of magic wrap around him, easing him upwards and pulling him from the pipe that was lodged just below his ribs. Ironic. It was opposite the wound Thanos had dealt him five years before with his own weapon.

A scream clawed its way out of his throat as Wanda pulled him up and balanced him on his feet. His bare hand went instantly to the wound to put pressure on it and he had to force himself to activate what was left of the glove on his left, temporarily sealing up the wound so that he wouldn't bleed out. As soon as he had, Wanda released him slowly, easing him to the ground. "What happened?" he managed.

"We lost," Wanda answered, her voice soft.

Tony blinked hard, his gaze flickering over to Danvers. "You said Thanos is dead."

"He is. So is everyone else."

"Did he…?"

"He didn't have to." Wanda took a surprising seat so that she was eye-level with where Tony was just barely propping himself up. It took him a moment to realize that joining him probably wasn't her goal. She was exhausted. Five years of… whatever - wherever - they had been and she came back into _this_. A war that, even though their enemy was dead, she was counting as a loss. "His army overpowered ours. Even with everyone back. As far as I can tell, only a few Avengers made it out."

"Who?"

She cringed. "Us and Thor."

Tony pushed himself to his knees. "Pepper? Rhodey?"

"I'm sorry."

"Peter?"

She shook her head.

"No," he managed, finally to his feet on his own power. He stumbled forward but caught himself. "No. They can't be… No."

"Cap, Banner…. They're all gone. Tony, stop."

He pitched forward, leaning against a pile of rubble. "My daughter."

"You have a daughter?"

"A family friend was watching her while we…. I have to get to her. I have to make sure Morgan is okay."

"Hey." It was Danvers this time, and the blonde caught his gaze. "You're not going to do her any good if you're dead."

"Where is she?" Wanda asked.

"Pepper and I have a place…. Between here and the City." He didn't like the look they both wore. "What?"

"Reports have already come in that the creatures were making their way to New York City."

"I need to go. I need to…"

Wanda was on her feet again and reached forward, but he managed to steady himself before she had to. "Not alone."

Tony looked over at her. He wasn't the only one who had lost. The girl's brother had given his life and Thanos had murdered Vision. Before all of that one of his own weapons had killed her parents. She was alone too.

She reached forward, her fingers just shy of his arm. "Let's go find your daughter.."

* * *

Thanos' creatures had made it out beyond their battle. Making their way to New York City… that's what Danvers had said. Where she'd gotten the intel, he had no idea, but it was true, and they'd destroyed everything in their path.

Wanda had come with him. It wasn't like she had anything left at the compound and she didn't have a lot of interest in sticking around for the government officials to show up. Neither did Tony, if he were honest. Someone would try to get him to do something and the only time he could afford was a moment with Pepper, knelt down on the fractured ground, kissing her bloodied hand and whispering broken apologies. He'd wanted to protect her. He'd needed to protect her. He'd failed. And not just her. Rhodey, Cap, Bruce…. Peter. All he had was that dangerous hope that he'd walk through the door and his little girl would rush into his arms. That was the only thing keeping him on his feet as Wanda and he made their way to the cabin in the woods that the Starks had called home for five years now.

Tony stood staring. He couldn't breathe, but it had nothing to do with the barely held together wound and everything to do with the fact that there was nothing left of his home. A crater pitted the ground where the house had once stood, the decimation stretching out to swallow up Morgan's tent and her toys, the trees, and the peace that they'd clung to so hard to since she'd been born. It had stolen everything. Thanos had stolen everything.

"Tony?" Wanda asked softly as he stumbled forward, falling to his knees at the edge of it all. "Maybe they -"

He shook his head. False hope was worse.

The Scarlet Witch knelt down with him, her fingers against his arm. They paused there and carefully, hesitantly, she pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. "You need a doctor."

"No."

"Tony -"

"It doesn't matter," he managed. He would just be another casualty. One of many. He hadn't been able to save them, so why should he bother taking up a bed at an ER that was likely overflowing? He was done. The will to fight driven out of him.

"Dr Strange - the man that brought us all to the battle - he said all of you traveled through time to get the stones. Maybe we could -"

"That's not how it works," Tony breathed, shifting so that he was sitting. "Time travel won't change our present. It would just open up a new…." He stopped, blinking hard. "A new timeline." He could almost hear her question hanging in the air between them, but his mind was spinning too fast to string the words together into anything that someone other than he could understand.

After a long moment he loosed a breath. "What are you thinking?" Wanda finally asked.

"Timelines." He stood, one knee threatening to give, but he forced it into submission. "When you mess with time, it messes back. We were careful. Mostly careful. Kinda careful. We didn't break anything. Thanos didn't care. He took a damn sledgehammer to it."

"Okay…?"

He turned, one hand sweeping out as he spoke. "He could have fractured the timeline when he followed us through which would have opened up… I don't even know how many parallel universes."

"Can we get there?"

There was something careful about her tone and Tony looked at her. She looked as broken as he felt. "Maybe."

Her eyes brightened, and he didn't have it in him to tell her the odds. They had to make it back to the compound and down to the lower levels. _If_ they could salvage any of the technology, _if_ any of the suits had survived, _if_ the Pym Particles he and Steve had brought back from the past hadn't been completely destroyed... Those were a lot of ifs, but in that moment he didn't have anything else to hold onto. He had to try.

* * *

They found Thor at what was left of the compound. If he had been helping with the clean up or not, they couldn't seem to get that much out of him. Talk of alternate realities and potential paths to get them there seemed to perk his interest enough to be willing to lend some strength into getting down into the destroyed compound to see what they had available.

"How are you feeling?"

Tony glanced back from where he had taken up residence on a slab of fallen ceiling. "I may be onto something. See this piece here? I should be able to use it to channel the power to a single pad. One at a time, but a little-"

"That's not what I asked," she pressed, her voice quiet.

"Fine. I'm fine," he said dismissively. He fit the piece in place and the machine gave an encouraging buzz.

A loud crashing sound pulled both of their attention over and Thor came stumbling through the debris, several of the suits they'd created to travel draped over one arm. They were filthy, but looked to be mostly intact.

"Did you find three?" Wanda asked.

"I did. How close are you, Stark?"

"Getting there." He squeezed his eyes closed and massaged at the bridge of his nose. They had the suits, Wanda had found the Pym Particles earlier, and for the first time since he'd started tinkering with it hours ago Tony felt hopeful about getting at least a single pad up and running to send them through individually. This could work, which left him forced to look at what couldn't. He cringed at that thought and forced his tired eyes open. "Wanda… listen. Cap and I lost Loki the first time that we went after the Space Stone -"

"You _lost_ my brother?" Thor demanded. "Why wouldn't you say something sooner?"

"Been a little busy, Point Break," Tony grumbled, waving him off. He turned his full focus back to Wanda. "It opens up a place where I can send him that he might not break the timeline any further by looking for him."

"It does sound like you have already done that," the god of thunder groused.

"Could you not? I'm doing you a favour here."

"It's a point where he can find his brother but won't have to deal with his other self. There's nothing like that for me… not if I want to find Vision."

"Yeah," Tony admitted softly.

"It's okay. As long as I can save him in one reality, that's all I'm really looking for."

She wanted to save him, not be with him. He could get that. Something was better than nothing.

"I mean… that's what you're doing, right? Saving them?"

Tony tried for a smile, but for all of his usual quips and sarcastic retorts, his voice failed him then. Save them? He didn't think he could save anyone right now. He'd be lucky if he could get to his feet without help. Closing the wound had slowed things down, but without medical attention he could feel his body rebelling against him. He wouldn't make it long enough for infection to get him. No, he knew he couldn't save them. He just needed to see them one more time. If he was lucky he might even get a chance to beg for their forgiveness.

Wanda reached out, her touch startling him out of his thoughts. "None of us really made it out," she said softly. "All we can do is try to find _something_ from it now."

"I'm sorry."

"This wasn't your fault. I wouldn't be here if all of you hadn't -"

"Your parents." He watched her eyes widen. "I'm sorry."

"So much has happened since then. Including a chance to find out that you're not the man I thought you were back then."

He nodded, accepting that. He stood slowly, unsteadily, and looked at the makeshift pad. "Okay. That should do it. Last chance if anybody wants to stay."

"There is nothing here for any of us," Thor echoed the earlier sentiment.

"Right."

A few minutes later they were changed and ready. Thor went first, gone in a flash through the Quantum Realm to try his hand at a new timeline that Tony and Steve had accidentally ripped open in their attempt to get ahold of the Space and Mind Stones. Tony leaned against the makeshift control panel and glanced over to Wanda who was adjusting her gloves. "Ready?"

"Yeah." She stepped up onto the platform, her blue gaze sweeping him up and down. "I hope you get to say goodbye to them."

He tried for a smile. "Me too. Good luck."

Then she was gone, leaving Tony alone in the rubble. After a long moment he set the timer and moved into position. A wave of pain hit and he pressed a hand below his ribs and widened his stance, desperate to stay on his feet. He wouldn't get another chance at this. It was now or never, and he didn't think he was ready to go without seeing them one last time.

* * *

**TBC**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long while since I wrote for MCU. I threatened to jump back in last year when Infinity War came out and we lost Loki, but it didn't take hold and refuse to leave. I cope with character death by finding a way to turn it around and bring them back, and I spent the first week and a half or so after watching Endgame trying to do that for Tony. He was my first fav out of MCU and had stayed at the top of my list. After going through a Tony rewatch of MCU movies, I found one. 
> 
> Apologies if Captain Marvel is a bit off... I haven't had a chance to see her movie yet, though I loved what I saw of her in Endgame. I just didn't think it would make a lot of sense for her to have died at Thanos' hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

The world flashed out of existence around him and Tony found himself standing in the open. Fractured, crumbling concrete was was replaced by grass under his boots and dust with clean, fresh air as the suit's helmet retracted automatically. He drew a shaky breath, deep as he dared without sending himself crashing to his knees in a coughing fit. He knew this place.

He breathed it in. He was home. Home as he'd remembered it, as he'd lived it, not the pile of rubble that had been left in the wake of Thanos' army. Good. That meant that he hadn't completely miscalculated. Thanos _had_ fractured timelines when he'd entered theirs, leaving multiple offshoots closely resembling each other. Or at least one. If the way he was feeling was anything to go by, this was the only one that mattered. This was a one way trip and he'd known it. If he was lucky, he might find Pepper long enough to say his goodbyes. Cap had literally fought with himself and hadn't broken that timeline, so Pepper seeing two of him for five minutes shouldn't either. He'd just have to try to keep the number of people that saw him to a minimum. Subtle. He could do subtle.

Voices drifted down the hill to where he had landed and he looked up, squinting into the afternoon light. He knew that that cracking, quick voice.

"He was there and then he just…. he saved us, Happy. No way we would have…"

Exhaustion and pain was addling his brain. Had to be or he would have realized that he had moved into the kid's line of vision. It took a moment for him to clue into the fact that Peter was staring at him, jaw dropping open, and Tony wondered if he looked half as terrible as he felt. So much for being subtle.

"Mr Stark…. You're alive," the kid breathed and Tony blinked.

"Alive?" he managed, the question lost as Peter took off, covering the space between them and he slammed into Tony. The teen wrapped his arms around him, and it was the only thing keeping the older man on his feet. A wave of pain washed over him at the initial contact and he leaned forward, returning the embrace, and he let himself sink into the moment. The kid was alive. He was okay. Tony hadn't failed him. He was alright.

"Mr Stark?"

The kid's voice turned worried, but it wasn't until Tony heard Happy's "Boss?" that he realized he had gone from hugging to leaning. His body was finally giving out under the strain he had put it under and he could feel his focus struggling.

Somewhere in the background he heard them call his name just before his knees gave out on him and everything went dark.

* * *

It had been just over thirty-six hours since the world had fallen apart all over again. For most people it had been restored: families brought back together, loved ones pulled back from nothingness. For Pepper the nightmare had finally broken through to reality. Tony was gone. Dead. Not missing. She wasn't getting him back this time.

The funeral had been… beautiful was the wrong word. There was nothing beautiful about death. It had been bittersweet. Everyone he cared about had been there, including Peter Parker. Tony had spent five years mourning the kid, but the moment he got him back he had sacrificed himself. Not just for Peter, but for everyone. Pepper had seen the carnage with her own eyes, and she wasn't sure she would ever fully shake the nightmares.

She couldn't let it overwhelm her. She knew that. It had nothing to do with the guests that still milled around their home and everything to do with a little girl who hadn't let go of her daddy's helmet.

Morgan had disappeared from the living room some time before and Pepper found her out by her tent cradling the Iron Man helmet that Tony had left behind. "Hey you," she greeted softly. "What are you doing out here?"

Morgan shrugged, turning the helmet over without saying anything. Her dark eyes - just like Tony's - were rimmed red and she ran the back of her hand across her nose as she sniffed hard.

Pepper took a careful seat on the ground with her daughter and Morgan leaned in. "I miss Daddy," the little girl murmured and Pepper wrapped an arm around her, kissing dark hair. Morgan craned her head back, looking up. "Tons and tons."

"Me too, sweetie," Pepper managed, her voice trembling and threatening to break. She pulled her daughter into her lap, holding onto her as Morgan held onto the helmet. She didn't want to risk breaking down, not when Morgan needed her to be strong. She focused on the little girl in her arms. Not the overwhelming pain she had seen in Tony's eyes or the way she couldn't bring herself to beg him to hang on for them. _We'll be okay_. It was all she could do for him in that moment. He had given everything and she had made him a promise. She had to make good on it now.

Shouting pulled Pepper out of her thoughts and she thought she heard someone say they should call for a doctor, but she couldn't see from where she sat. She pressed another kiss to Morgan's head before shifting to stand.

Peter and Happy were carrying someone between them. The height difference made it more awkward than it might have been otherwise, but both of them looked determined to be apart of it. Pepper squinted, trying to get a clearer view of the limp figure between them as the drew closer, shock sweeping through her.

"Daddy!" Morgan squealed and took off, leaving her mother staring at an injured, but very much alive Tony Stark.

* * *

She was dreaming. That was the only explanation that made any sense at all. She had been right there with him and watched the life fade from her husband's eyes. They had buried him just a couple hours before, but there he was unconscious on the couch in their living room. Pepper knew she had to be dreaming, but why couldn't he have at least been healthy and smiling that goofy smile of his that he gave her when he knew he was in trouble.

Now she stood back, numbly staring as Peter Parker rattled on next to her and a man with magical powers checked Tony over. Apparently Dr Strange wasn't a name he'd chosen. Who knew?

"...just crazy. Happy and I were talking about how much we missed him and then BAM! There he was." He paused for half a beat. "Uh… Miss Potts? Er, Mrs Stark? I actually don't know what to call you anymore. I was kinda…. Nonexistent when you guys got married?"

"Pepper's fine," she managed, not able to tear her attention away from the limp figure on the couch.

"Oh," he said uncertainty. "Well… are you okay? I thought you'd be excited? We got him back."

She shook her head, finally forcing herself to look away. "I have to be dreaming," she said firmly and she thought voicing it might pull her out of it.

It didn't, and Peter just kept staring. "I mean, I guess, but if it's your dream I don't think I'd have memories or thoughts or…." He scrunched his nose up. "It's crazy. I mean…. We saw him die. Right there, but here he is."

"We've seen some pretty crazy things over the years."

Pepper turned back to see Steve Rogers moving closer, Bruce by his side. The Gamma expert tilted his head. "Yeah, but never a legitimate resurrection. Especially not someone that we saw in the casket just a couple of hours ago."

"That's not exactly what this appears to be," Strange said from his place, drawing all eyes over to him and he straightened. "He's traveled through time and space recently."

"We all did," Steve pointed out. "To get the Infinity Stones."

Strange shot him a look that bordered on exasperated, as if he'd said something obviously and blatantly stupid. "You traveled through _time_ for the Infinity Stones. He's traveled through time _and space_."

Pepper drew in a careful breath. "What's the difference?"

"He hopped timelines," Bruce managed, the statement not holding any of his usual confidence.

Peter shifted in his place, looking more and more nervous. "So, what? He's not our Mr Stark?"

"The only thing safe to say is that he's not the Tony Stark that died," Strange murmured, turning back to look at the sleeping man.

Pepper was suddenly very glad she had listened to her gut and had sent Morgan with Peter's Aunt May. She had known it was too good to be true. "Then that means he's not our Tony."

"I wouldn't go that far."

She turned to look at Strange, but Bruce was the one that answered. "It'd depends where it split off… I mean, theoretically, there could only be about a thirty-six to forty-eight hour difference between his timeline and ours. We won't know until he wakes up."

"Is he alright?" Peter asked softly.

"It looks like he was run through with something. Rest, painkillers, and antibiotics will go a long way."

It took a moment for Pepper to realize all eyes were on her again as they waited for her instructions on where said treatment should take place. The bedroom made the most sense, but there was that lingering question of who he was…. Did experience make a person? Relationships formed? A soul? And if it was the latter, what happened when a new timeline just _split off_? They were questions she'd never needed to think about before, but the answers felt vital to what should be a very simple decision.

"Let's get him to the guest bedroom." She set her jaw at a couple of hesitant looks. "Listen, until someone can tell me if that's my husband or not, I don't plan on making any assumptions."

They nodded, a low rumble of acknowledgement coming from them, and Pepper stood back to give them room to move.

* * *

Tony came around slowly, dark eyes fluttering open and he felt hungover. Weird. It's been a long time since he had had enough to drink to be hungover, but as the room came slowly into focus he realized that had to have been what happened. It was the only reason he could think of why Pepper would have exiled him to the guest room that also would have left his mind as cloudy as it felt.

He shifted and pain cut through the fog. His hand went to the source to find bandages wrapped around his middle, the source of the pain somewhere below the dressings. Okay. Not hungover. Injured. But why…..?

Thanos. Thanos has come crashing through the sky from the past and had destroyed _everything_. His family had been killed, their home destroyed, but there he was. Something wasn't right.

"Hey, easy. Tony, take it easy."

He hadn't made it very far off the pillows when hands gently pushed him back down. He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision, and found Steve Rogers leaning over him. A short, pained sound escaped him when he tried to speak.

Steve leaned out of his line of site for just a moment, and when he returned it was with a glass of water, a straw poking up out of it. He helped ease Tony up just enough to take a couple of sips, the room temperature water helping with the rawness that had kept him from speaking. "Better?"

"Yeah," Tony croaked, wincing as he relaxed back in the bed.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Tony closed his eyes a moment. "Thanos," he managed, the name leaving his lips like a curse. "He killed…" His eyes snapped open. That was it. "How did I get here?"

"In the room or this timeline?" Cap asked carefully.

He knew. Of course he knew. One of the others would have pieced it together, maybe even Tony himself… or the other Tony. Shit. He hadn't meant to get in this deep. He'd just wanted to…. He didn't know, not really. Say goodbye, that had been the theory, but it'd been selfish. He'd been so selfish. He'd thrown out all reason for a chance.

"I figure you know how you got to this timeline," Steve prompted, drawing Tony's attention back around and the younger man drew in a careful breath.

He started the painful process of pushing himself up on his elbows. "I gotta go."

"Like hell you do."

Despite the situation, a smirk tilted Tony's lips. "Language, Cap," he huffed before he could stop himself.

A low, surprising chuckle drew his attention over and Steve motioned for him to lie back. "Never going to live that down… You're hurt. You're not going anywhere."

"May not break the timeline if I'm in the same place as myself, but it's not great for it."

The humour instantly drained from Cap's eyes. "That… won't be a problem."

"What do you mean?" He waited, but didn't get an answer, so he reached out for the man that had been both friend and something like an enemy over the years. "Hey. What'dya mean?"

"You died, Tony. Or… a version of you. Our version. I don't…" He shook his head, a mirthless chuckle much darker than the earlier amusement. "You saved us. All of us."

"I couldn't," Tony admitted softly. "In my…. It all went to hell."

"You lost?"

"Not technically. Thanos died, but so did nearly everybody else."

"That's why you came here?"

"I want to… I had to see them again." Tony blinked rapidly, desperately trying to shove the bubbling emotions down. He'd been doing it since the battle. Through finding the bodies of the people he loved most and not even being able to find that much when he'd tried to go home. It was too much. If there was a limit of what one person could handle, he thought he'd hit his. He could feel hot tears stream down the sides of his face as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Where's Pep? And Morgan?"

"In the living room."

"Can I see them?"

"That's…. I don't think that's a good idea right now, Tony."

"What do you mean it's not a good idea?" He shoved himself up on his elbows, the desperation clawing at him.

"I mean that it's a lot for Pepper to process right now. She was…" He cringed, like he was looking for the right way to phrase it. "She was with you when you died. She hasn't even had time to process that and then now this." His lips thinned out and it was clear he was struggling too. "Strange said you needed rest. Get some rest. Maybe by the time you wake up she'll be ready to come in here."

"But they're okay?"

"Yeah. They're okay."

Tony finally let himself fall back, the fight leaving him and exhaustion taking its place. Everything hurt and all he wanted was to see his wife and little girl. He wanted to see his family.

"It's going to be okay, Tony."

The younger man snorted. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew Cap was making sense, but he couldn't find the energy to agree. Instead he let his eyes slip closed and he sleep pulled him under.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Tony... all he wanted to do was see his family. Is that so much to ask?
> 
> I hope you're enjoying this! Making things worse before making them better is kind of my MO, but at least I can promise you a happy ending :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three**

She had finally found some quiet, if not some peace. Tony was resting, painkillers and injuries pulling him into a deep enough sleep that Bruce seemed convinced they wouldn't get any more answers from him that night. He had left along with several others. Peter and Happy were the only ones that had elected to stay, Strange promising that if anything went wrong he was just a portal away. Not that Pepper knew how to get ahold of him, but that didn't seem to be in question as he stepped through a swirl of gold and sparks to leave her staring.

That had been hours before. Now, with Morgan tucked into bed and Peter and Happy crashed out, Pepper had stepped outside to try to claim a few moments to process what was happening. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had been sitting on the step on their front porch, gaze fixed through a tree that had long since blurred into colours rather than shapes. Everything had gone still, leaving her floating in her own raging thoughts.

The sound of thrusters forced her to blink, clearing her vision as the War Machine suit eased down and the helmet unlocked to reveal a familiar face. Pepper stood. "I've been trying to reach you for _hours_!"

Rhodey stepped out of the suit, the deep bruises from the earlier battle against Thanos showing in full in the porch light. He looked exhausted. "Not the best cell service out there right now, but I got your message. Is it really him? How?"

Pepper cringed. Despite the bags under his eyes and the bruises littering his skin, he sounded hopeful, and why not? Tony had come back from so much. Three months as a prisoner in Afghanistan, nearly killed by the arc reactor keeping him alive, redirected a nuclear bomb into space on his shoulders, Killian, Ultron, the fight with Steve, and a month lost drifting in space trying to kill a Titan…. It was a lot. It was too much. Everyone had their limits and Pepper knew he'd reached his. It had cost him his life, and for all the amazing and terrifying things they had seen, not one of them had come back from the dead. Not really.

"Pepper?" Rhodey called softly.

"It's not him," she managed, reaching up to tub at tired eyes. "He's…. a version of Tony is how Bruce explained it. From another timeline." She hated watching his shoulders fall and feeling like she had somehow killed his hope.

"Then why is he here?"

She pursed her lips. "Apparently he lost everyone in his timeline. He told Steve he…. needed to see everyone."

"You and Morgan."

Pepper glanced over, the question never making it off her tongue as her husband's best friend offered the first smile she'd seen in what felt like forever. Maybe it was really just since the funeral. He shrugged. "I've known that man a lot of years, Pepper. He came back for you."

"He didn't come back. He came here," she all but snapped.

He tilted his head. "You said he lost everyone, right? So he fought Thanos just like we did. I know Bruce seemed to think we could split off alternate realities if we screwed with the timelines too badly. Maybe that's what happened."

"That doesn't make him our Tony."

"Doesn't make him not." Rhodey leaned against the railing.

A short, mirthless laugh escaped at that and Pepper took a heavy seat on the porch step and leaned forward so that her elbows were braced against her knees.

"You mind?" Rhodey asked, motioning to the empty space next to her and nodded. He took the seat. "What's got you so tied up?"

She swallowed hard. That was the question, wasn't it? It took a moment for her to pull her thoughts into something that she hoped would make some kind of sense. She opened her mouth, closed it, and repeated the motion again before squeezing her eyes closed, finding the core of her hesitation. "What if it's not him?" There was a long moment and she pulled in a trembling breath. "I want him to be, Rhodey, but what if I think he is, if I accept he is, and he's not? If I…." _Betray_ _him_ sounded dramatic, but the man she's married, the man she had loved had died. Did she want this man to be him at his core? Of course she wanted it, but she wasn't sure what was right.

Rhodey loosed a long breath next to her. "We've seen a lot of crazy shit."

"You think it's really him?"

"I haven't talked to him yet, but if there's anybody stubborn enough to beat both death and time, it's Tony Stark. Hell, he's beat death more times than I can count."

The smallest of smiles tugged at her lips and she leaned into the man next to her. She wasn't sure if he was right - hell, he wasn't sure he was right - but if she weren't careful his hope might catch. If she weren't careful, she would willingly let it catch.

* * *

Aunt May had left some time before, but he had decided to stay despite her hesitation. He couldn't leave, not with Mr Stark there and _alive_. Peter had taken up Captain America's post watching over the sleeping, injured man when the older man had left to go help with the cleanup mission. It had been hours since then, though, and no matter how determined he was to stay awake, Peter's body was making him fight for it.

Light flooded into the room and he jerked back from the edge of sleep, jolting upright in the wingback chair he had slumped down in. Brown eyes squinted towards the door and tried to adjust, but all he saw was the light. Then he looked down and saw little Morgan Stark sneaking in. Her own dark eyes latched onto him and she held her finger to her lips in a gesture that Peter had to assume she was mimicking from her father. He flashed her a grin and mirrored it, unfolding. "Hey. Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" he asked her in a hushed voice.

She scrunched her little nose up in thought. "Wanna see Daddy," she said and looked back to him. "Aren't you 'spose to be in bed?"

"Probably," the teen superhero murmured and glanced over to where Mr Stark was sleeping.

"What's that?" Morgan asked, pointing at the medical equipment by the bed, all of it reading steady.

"That's just to make sure he's okay."

"Sick?"

"Sorta," Peter said hesitantly. She was four, Pepper had told him. What do you tell a four-year-old when their dad was hurt? To be fair, though, she'd thought he was dead a few hours earlier. He _had_ been. Hurt was better than dead any day.

Morgan climbed up onto the bed without warning and Peter swallowed his protest, waiting to see if she'd wake him. A small part - a selfish part, he knew - kind of hoped she did. He had barely seen the older man since his return. A hop through a portal, an unexpected hug on the other side, and before he knew it Mr Stark was sacrificing his life so the rest of them could live.

And then he was gone. Just like that. Dead and gone, seemingly forever, but Peter had been too, he guessed. Snapped out of existence. It made sense if he was from an alternate timeline that he was basically their Mr Stark. All but that terrible ending. It made sense, he thought. He was definitely willing to believe it.

"Hey, Daddy?" Morgan called in a loud whisper, poking his cheek. "Daddy?"

A soft groan came from the injured man and Peter saw him shift, and it looked like he looked up at Morgan. "Hey you," her dad greeted roughly.

"You wanna juice pop? Make you feel better?"

A snort of laughter escaped Mr Stark and Peter saw him reach up, bopping a finger against his daughter's nose. "You know what makes me feel even better than a juice pop?"

"Huh?"

"You. C'mere," he prompted and she leaned down so that he could kiss her round little cheek, Morgan giggling all the way. "Love you three thousand."

"Hey! That's mine!" she protested, but didn't sound too put out.

"I know, but it's a good one. Can I borrow it? Only for you though."

"Only for me though," she echoed and laid down next to him, snuggling in like she had no intention of leaving.

Mr Stark shifted, pressing a kiss to her hair and Peter suddenly felt like he was intruding, but he had no idea how to slip out without calling attention to himself and making it even more awkward. He was weighing his options when he heard the older man clear his throat. "Hey, Pete?"

Okay. So much for going unnoticed. "Hi…. uh, I was just —"

Mr Stark reached out with the hand not tethered by the various machines and IVs - only the little girl who was already asleep nestled against him - and Peter moved over instantly. "You okay?"

He took the offered hand. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. Are you —?"

"Thought I'd lost you again," his mentor murmured, squeezing Peter's hand, and it looked like the painkillers were already pulling him back into a drowsy sleep.

"You saved my life. All of our lives." Peter swallowed hard, the weight of the emotions making it difficult to speak. "You found us again, Mr Stark. You came home."

He was already asleep though, Morgan snoring softly against her father and Peter felt a smile tug into place. He gave the hand in his one final squeeze before easing it down on the bed and starting for the door. There'd be time. He was home. He was okay. They were all going to be okay.

* * *

It was late. She and Rhodey had talked for a long while and then had sat in silence, letting it all sink in. Pepper had known she wouldn't be able to sleep, but at least she had been able to talk through everything that was whirling around her mind. She didn't have the answers, but at least she wasn't alone.

She offered Rhodey any space he could find to sleep, but they found Hapy still crashes out on the couch and Peter had taken up residence on a small sofa, long legs bent over the arm. They looked peaceful, or something close to it.

The plan has been to check on Morgan and then go rest her own eyes for at least a few minutes, but Pepper found her daughter's room empty. It didn't take a lot to put together where she had gone.

The guest bedroom was dark save the soft glow of the monitors. Pepper peaked into the room to see something she'd seen many times before: Morgan half draped over Tony, father and daughter sound asleep. Pepper chewed on her bottom lip as she watched them, both oblivious, and she could feel that desperate small hope setting in despite her best efforts. It was in the way that Morgan had tucked herself into the crook of his shoulder and the way he was half curled on his side, his face relaxed in sleep. She missed him. There was no question that she did miss him. The question was in if she would have to continue to.

Pepper drew in a shaky breath and wiped at the tears threatening. She'd talk to him in the morning and make her own judgement call. Know one knew Tony Stark like she did. She'd know, and she thought that might be what terrified her the most: the possibility of having to say goodbye all over again. Of giving up that hope that was starting to take hold.

Knowing was better, though. It had to be.

* * *

TBC

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is turning out longer than I meant for it to be.... When I started it I promised myself I would only write a two, three parter at the absolute most, but here we are, and there's at least one more part to write. Ah well.... That's what happens when I remember how much I've missed writing MCU fanfiction


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Four**

Tony found himself standing in the ruin of what had once been the Avengers complex before Thanos had blasted it into rubble. How he had gotten to where he stood was a blur, possibly explained by the blood caked against his head. He wiped at it, frowning, and heard a scream just off to his side. He spun and as the dust cleared he saw the Titan himself standing just a few yards away. The purple giant had Pepper by the throat, her suit beaten and her boots dangled off the floor as she struggled. In his other hand, caught by the back of her pajama top, hung Morgan.

Pepper's eyes met Tony's and she screamed his name just before Thanos threw her. She landed hard at his feet - somehow more bloodied than the motion should have left her - and her eyes stared vacantly up at him.

"Daddy!" Morgan cried, but he felt like someone had locked his boots in place.

"You tried, Tony," Thanos told him, almost as if he were acknowledging a child's effort on a project. "You just weren't strong enough to save them."

"Daddy! Daddy you-"

"No!" Tony screamed as Thanos lifted Morgan high into the air.

" _Daddy, wake up_!"

Tony jolted awake, sweat dampening his face and hair rather than blood, and a set of wide, dark eyes were peering at him. "Daddy, you had a bad dream?" Morgan asked.

Her father swallowed hard and reached up and tucked an unruly strand of hair back. "Yeah, kiddo. Yeah I did," he breathed.

"It's okay," she promised, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'll protect you from the bad guys."

A soft chuckle managed to break free and he reached up to pull her closer, feeling himself relax as she buried her face in his left shoulder. Nightmares were nothing new in the Stark household, but having her here and proving to himself she was okay made them bearable.

She sat up. "Know what, know what makes me feel better?"

"If you say juice pops for breakfast…" he teased, the smile he gave her only partially forced.

Morgan grinned. "No, silly! Not for _breakfast_!"

The smile turned a little more real. "Okay, so what makes you feel better?"

"Pancakes in eggs!"

Tony snorted a laugh. "What, like a pancake omelet?"

"Yeah."

"That's weird, little miss," he chuckled and started to sit up to kiss her cheek.

She moved too quickly, though, and before he knew it she had piled on top of him and was bouncing with excitement. "Pancakes in eggs, please, Daddy? Please?"

He sucked in a sharp breath, the pain intensifying with every bounce. Morgan stopped, confused by the reaction to what had been a relatively normal wake up call more mornings than not. Her dark brows pulled together and her little nose scrunched up, a question looking like it was forming as the door pushed open.

"Sweetie, Daddy's not feeling well," Pepper said and suddenly Morgan was being pulled away as gently as she could manage.

"He had a bad dream. Wanted to make it better," their little girl pouted and Tony reached for her with his left hand, his right clutching at the wound in his side.

"It's okay, kiddo. You did." He swallowed hard and tried to will some of the strength back into his voice. "You did. Give me a few minutes and we'll try breakfast, huh?"

She nodded slowly, still looking put out. Pepper leaned down and kissed the top of her head before inching her towards the door.

Tony half expected her to follow, but a wave of relief washed through him as she turned back. It didn't last as she swatted his hand away to see if any damage had been done. Her fingers worked back his t-shirt, brushing along skin, and if he hadn't been in so much pain - and anticipating more the moment she started tugging on the dressings - he would have managed a remark that would have gotten him hit. As it stood, all he could think about was how much he missed Cho and her portable nano-molecular regeneration cradle that had stitched all of them up at one point or another while they had been working out of Avengers Tower to round up what was left of Hydra and their stolen tech. That seemed like a lifetime ago now. In a way it was.

The dressing stuck where Pepper hadn't expected it and a hiss of pain escaped him. "Sorry," she said softly, and when he finally pried one eye open he found her looking at him instead of the wound.

He tried for a smile. "Hey."

"Hi," she greeted back and turned back to her project, pulling a steadying breath in. "It looks better than I expected with the way she was using you like a trampoline. Not great, but better than I expected. I should probably—"

He reached out, fingers circling her wrist and she stopped at the touch. Tony swallowed hard as she finally met his eyes again and he offered a ghost of a smile. "Don't go," he pleaded softly. "I've missed you, Miss Potts."

All at once he could see the crack in her carefully constructed mask and he loosed his grip as she tugged away. In hurried, clipped movements she pulled the dressing back into place and tugged his shirt down, trying to move away even before she was done. She started to sit up and he felt his chest tighten. "What'd I do?" She didn't answer and he started to sit up. It hurt - of course it hurt - but that didn't matter nearly as much as where he knew this was going. He'd watched her walk away too many times before. Sooner or later it was going to stick, and he wasn't going to risk that being now. "Pep, hon, please. I know this is is… I know it's… I don't know, complicated? But when hasn't it been complicated?"

"This is so far past complicated," she whispered. "My husband _died_. You lived. That's not -"

Tony grit his teeth, forcing himself all the way to sitting and he started to tug monitors and IV's from place.

"What are you doing?"

"Detangling," he answered offhandedly and turned a look on her as he reached to throw the blankets off. He had some adrenaline going. Good. He was going to need it.

"Tony, stop."

He hated that tone. That hurt, cautious tone. He'd earned it over and over again during the years, but not here. He hadn't earned it here. He'd fought and he'd struggled and somehow, someway, he'd made it back to her.

"I know I died here. Cap told me, but in my timeline _you_ died. You and Morgan and _everybody_. We won, but we didn't. I was willing to give up my own life, but you? You and Morgan are the ones I gotta protect and I failed."

"Tony…"

"It's not…" He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the emotions bubbling over. He couldn't stop them. The dam had broken now and there was no stopping the flood, so he swung his legs over the side of the bed and forced himself up to look her in the eye. "Do you know the _odds_ of jumping from a timeline where my whole family is dead to one where I'm the only one who died? _I_ can't even calculate them."

"Are you trying to say it was fate or something like that?"

"I'm saying there's a reason. I'm trying to say I'm not going to waste it," Tony snapped back. "You are everything to me. Nothing else matters to me. My family is everything to me, and I got you back. I can't waste that. I can't waste it."

And just like that he felt the adrenaline begin to fade, almost like a balloon losing air. He sagged against the bed and Pepper called his name, reaching for him. He focused on her voice, on her hands against him as she tried to shift him back into the bed. She was holding him up, easing him where he needed to go, and Tony felt hot, pained tears work their way down the sides of his face that had nothing to do with the physical pain. "I can't lose you again," he whispered, his voice a little more desperate than he was sure he'd given it permission to be.

"I'm not your Pepper." Her voice was strained, like she was reliving his death again and again every time she looked at him. She was too scared to get it. Scared of being wrong.

"It's always been you," he said quietly. He could go into the science, into the fact that their timelines didn't have enough of a difference to actually be two different versions with the exception of one major event that mirrored the other's loss. Somehow it fit. In some twisted, bizarre way it fit. He'd lost her and she'd lost him, and then he'd found his way home to her. He stared up at her from where she'd eased him back onto the pillows, desperate to convey everything raging through his head. Her expression was hurt. Conflicted. He swallowed hard and reached blindly for her hand pressed against the mattress. His fingers curled around hers and Pepper leaned forward, their foreheads touched lightly in an unexpectedly intimate moment.

"I've lost you so many times," she confessed quietly. "I can't… it was everything I could do to let you go this time, but you were in so much pain and you..." Her voice trailed off and he reached up to brush a thumb along her cheek, wiping the tear with it.

"I'm right here," Tony promised. "I fought to be right here. With you. With Morgan. Pep, look at me. I'm —"

She leaned in as the nickname left his lips, the kiss cutting him off and he felt her deepen it immediately. Her hand brushed the side of his face, fingers toying with his short, dark hair, and he pulled her down so that she was halfway lying on top of him. Pepper jerked back and he blinked the question that wouldn't quite form. "I don't want to hurt you," she said quickly and relief washed through him. Okay. He could handle that.

"I'm okay," he promised with a suggestive smile and pulled her close again.

Pepper snorted, but instead of kissing him again she settled down at his side, carefully draping her arm across him to avoid aggravating his injury. Tony pushed back the momentary disappointment to focus on how close she was. The smell of her shampoo, the way her fingers toyed with the hem of his t-shirt. Maybe she wasn't quite relaxed, but there was no question that she was less wary than she had been just a few minutes before. She knew him. She knew that she knew him. The all-consuming fear that he had gotten them back just to lose them again started to melt away, leaving him instead with a peace he had been worried he couldn't find again. She always brought it with her though. Always had and always would. She was his home and the one he would fight the entire universe to protect. To come home to.

"I love you," he said softly, turning to press a kiss to her red hair.

She tightened her grip, but they both tensed at the sound of Happy calling after what had to be Morgan. "No, no! Come back here. I can make you… cereal? You love cereal!"

"Daddy promised pancakes in eggs!" Morgan yelled back from the bedroom doorway and her father had to choke down the laugh.

Pepper didn't bother to. "You promised her a pancake omelet? Seriously?"

"What can I say? She's convincing. Like her mom."

His wife shot him a withering look. "Like you've never gotten your way."

"Never. I'm outnumbered and I know it, right, sweet-?" There was no stopping the laugh that escaped him when he looked past his daughter to Happy. He was covered in what looked like lipstick and… blush? Maybe blush.

"Happy, what _happened_?" Pepper asked, only slightly more composed than Tony was managing.

"She got bored," their head of security grumbled.

Morgan turned an accusing look on her father. "You promised pancakes in eggs _forever_ ago!"

"Got that stuck on that one, didn't ya?" She grinned at him and he made a face at her. "Your mom's been in here ten minutes. Tops."

"But I'm huuuuunnnnngry!" she wailed between giggles.

"Uh huh. Sure. The giggles are a dead giveaway that you're a starving, neglected kid. What terrible parents we are." He started to get up again and Pepper reached forward.

"I'll make it. You need to get some rest."

"I need to stretch my legs," he countered and offered a lopsided grin in response to the look she gave him. "It's fine. I'm fine. Trust me?"

She hesitated, but Tony saw her relent just before she finally nodded and moved out of his way. He winked at Morgan, receiving another giggle for it, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. She was there, offering to help steady him, and he didn't deny her that. Getting up was one thing, but staying up could be another if a few minutes before was anything to go by. "Gotta give the princess what she wants or she'll put Happy in a tutu."

"A tutu!" Morgan squealed.

Happy looked horrified. "Please don't give her ideas, boss."

* * *

He was moving slow but relatively steady. Tony had always been the stubborn one to force himself to his feet, determined not to let an injury slow him down any more than it had to, and Pepper had seen nearly all of them. Even when they had been apart she had kept up with him. Somewhere along the way worrying about him had ceased to be an option for her. She loved him. She would always worry, but she had learned over the years that the best way to protect him wasn't to fight him tooth and nail, it was to offer support. As she stood there and watched him ease his way around their kitchen she knew. She wasn't sure how, or even when her brain and finally decided to accept it. His voice, the kiss, or maybe the way he was with Morgan. He was hers. She thought she could accept that, but she'd never been one to go into something blindly.

"Tell me what happened in your timeline?" she asked softly as she joined him at the stove. Morgan was busy at the table trying to beat an egg into submission - and getting it everywhere for her efforts, but that was to be expected - and this might be the best chance she had to take to hear the full story.

Tony's expression immediately hardened, his gaze fixed on the frying pan in front of him. He reached over without a word to grab for some of the ingredients and Pepper touched his hand. "Hey." She waited until he heaved a deep breath and met her gaze. "It's you, isn't it?"

"Just a few hours difference," he confirmed.

"They're important hours. For both of us." She leaned in, her forehead resting on his shoulder. "Tony, I need to know. _We_ need to know. If it's better, I can start."

It took a moment but she looked up and he nodded, tossing what he needed into the skillet and turned the burner down to give them time. He kept his gaze focused on the food as she spoke, telling him about how another version of him hadn't had the chance to walk away and how just a man in a can, as he'd once called himself when faced with gods and aliens, had taken on a Titan and won. He'd given everything, but he'd also protected everything. He listened, putting together their daughter's pancake omelet, and when she was done he walked her through everything he had been through in each painful detail.

"I didn't think I'd get more than a goodbye, if that," he confessed softly. "I had to try."

"Rhodey was right."

"Bout what?" He dumped the contents onto a plate. "Breakfast."

"Not done," Morgan grumbled, still smashing away at her eggs.

"Well if we waited on you it'd be dinner," Tony teased. He held the plate up as if he were going to take it away from her. "But if you're not hungry…."

"Mean!" Morgan announced and launched herself out of her chair, jumping for the plate.

Her father grinned, holding it just out of her reach and she giggled and jumped.

Pepper stood watching the whole exchange. It wasn't new, but it was perfect. "That you're the only one stubborn enough not to let anything stop you from coming home," she said as he finally relented, handing the plate over.

Tony turned, brown eyes meeting blue, and she met him halfway in the kiss. She felt his hand trail down her arm and he took her hand, pulling her a little closer. "Last surprise," she murmured against him.

"Last surprise," he promised.

"Eeeeww!"

They broke at the loud, pancake-omelet filled squeal, Pepper laughing and leaning into her husband. He widened his stance a little, steadying himself, and wrapped an arm around her as Morgan grinned. In one way or another he always came home to her and this time was no different. He might not be invincible, but he sure as hell was stubborn, and she would take that any day.

* * *

**End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a blast to write. So much so that I'm seriously considering starting a series of Pepperony one-shots that take place in those five years between Tony coming back from Space and Steve and Co asking for his help with time travel. Keep an eye out for a series called Five Years of Peace that will likely be horribly misnamed at points.
> 
> So, when I started writing this story I wanted to end it with Steve heading to return the Infinity Stones. While it was always a Pepperony story, it really zeroed in on an Iron Family story and the Steve scene at the end didn't fit. So just know that Steve goes to return the Infinity Stones and promises Tony that he 'won't be gone long'.... and returns with Peggy. And possibly Howard who managed to follow them after helping Steve develop a suit for Peggy. I don't think it's something that I'll actually write, but I'll leave you with that fun, chaotic idea :P


End file.
